lear

Something learned; a lesson.

Noun Scotland, countable

  1. Something learned; a lesson.
  2. Learning, lore; doctrine.
    • when all other helpes she saw to faile, / She turnd her selfe backe to her wicked leares / And by her deuilish arts thought to preuaile [...]. - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […],...
    • 'Foul befa' him and his lear too! It maun be o' some new-fangled kind, I think. Our auld minister had lear enough, baith Hebrew and Latin, and he believed in witches and warlocks, honest man, like ony ither sober, godly...
    • They dressed up in maids' array, And passd for sisters fair; With ae consent gaed ower the sea, For to seek after lear. - 1898, Francis James Child, editor, Lord William, or Lord Lundy, Child's Ballads:

Origin

From Middle English laire, leire, lere, northern Middle English variants of lore, loare (“doctrine, teaching, lore”), from Old English lār (“lore”). More at lore.

Forms

lears

Noun alt of, alternative

  1. Alternative form of lehr.

Origin

See lehr.

Forms

lears

Verb Scotland, archaic

  1. To teach.
  2. To learn.

Origin

From Middle English learen, leren (“to learn", also "to teach”).

Forms

lears learing leared

Related

leery

Verb Internet, alt of

  1. Deliberate misspelling of learn
    • Better start learing - 2025 December 30, u/Mehoyer, “YTD. Little bit worried if I can sustain this in the future...”, in r/Salary (Reddit post), archived from the original on 31 May 2026:
    • My favorite thing about the "No Kings" protests is that I can make fun of them with the same memes I used for the last protest because these people never lear or change at all. - 2026 March 28, @TheDamaniFelder, X...
    • "I see no good reason why we should attack Iran," says a bunch of people that leared geopolitics from Netflix, a former pizza delivery driver, or a Vogue intern that can't pronounce the word bureau. - 2026 March 30,...

Origin

A reference to the "Quality Learing Center", an allegedly fradulent Somali-American-run childcare center in Minneapolis, U.S., which closed in 2026.

Forms

lears learing leared